The Air Force recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $67.8 million to complete a year’s worth of F-22 programed depot maintenance, according to a release. The company will carry out this work at its site in Palmdale, Calif., and at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex on Hill AFB, Utah. F-22 depot maintenance is consolidating at Hill over the next year and a half as a cost-saving measure. Ogden has typically provided depot maintenance on some 12 F-22s each year, but that number will grow to about 24 this year as part of the changes, states the Jan. 9 release. In a separate move, the Air Force let a $67.7 million contract to Peerless Technologies of Fairborn, Ohio, for F-22 research, development, and sustainment advice and services until January 2020, announced the Pentagon on Jan. 9.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.